seats that are. in all position marjoram reaction to sunday's parliamentary vote gets a police response left to its own thrived venue and power lines down tom moscow. on the leg on the road to ruin the euro zone's credit ratings and won't block his leaders make a beeline for brussels for a long stitch attempt to salvage the car see. cutting back ties with russia response all for employees eaten by security forces in doha qatar and the kremlin criticism of its u.s. backed stalls in the arab spring revolution it's.

a very warm welcome to you this is live from moscow and with the final results of russia's parliament elections still do you the overall picture of a brand new board of lawmakers is already clear here large russia party has the lead but the ruling group is seeing a significant drop in popularity that in their reports. with almost one hundred percent of the votes counted the party has garnered just under fifty percent of the vote the communists came in second or third place by russia with liberal democrats on the fold please the three of the parties failed to get the required week per cent of the votes needed to get seats in the duma now those not yet final but the results indicate that the party which has crushing the dominee to

the country's politics for years now is on track to lose its two thirds majority in the duma for comparison in the two thousand and seven elections united russia got sixty four percent of the vote and now it failed to get the constitutional majority and also it didn't get that all important fifty percent mark which is of the so-called psychological barrier to say the top of the country is on the side with you that means that the ruling party will have to learn to find compromises with other political forces in the country and maybe pull my polish and with that and not the policy or even parties and united russia still bra's have already said that they're willing to form coalitions in this studio you know on monday evening and mosco several thousand protesters took to the streets and done to their frustration with the duma vote police say that between seven hundred to two thousand people took part in the rally and on like the rallies of this kind it was sanctioned by

the authorities protesters chanted we need new elections russia without revolution shame police did not interfere in the rally but when hundreds of protesters want along with the rally throughout the city at attempted to disrupt traffic they faced police cordons it resulted in hundreds of arrests a similar situation wasn't sent bit as well many of those protesting rallied in favor of that opposition party while others oppose the election as a whole. also and more school on monday that was a pro united russia rally organized by the party's supporters and that really want along smoothly without incidents well meanwhile several international observers who watched the election process claimed that there had been violations that back to the fannies of the vote while others say that those violations were insignificant and that the vote in general was transparent and objective present vision inventive

said that any accusations of electoral fraud would be investigated by russian law enforcement and but those found guilty of any infringements would be prosecuted to the fullest extent. or to talk more on how russia is parliamentary elections being assessed abroad is a. professor of russian geopolitics and leisure diversity and an expert on russia and eurasia that's cross-over to her now many times joining us professor let's begin if we can with last night's protest the poses to say that they couldn't freely express their frustration with the election is hundreds of them were detained and. ok i've just been told that we've actually lost our gas professor. we'll try to reconnect with her since we can do stay with r.t. for continued coverage of the election and the results. coming up later this hour now aussies business bulletin explores what effect the new may have on russia's

economy. that's right the privatization of they'd all companies will be all in the new parliament's agenda find out why being a minority shareholder in these companies really pays about twenty there. and also helping you keep track with the russians parliamentary election web site www dot com there you can find all the latest facts and figures and i'll.

try and reconnect with a guest professor. a professor at the russian politics in the. russian parliament tree elections professor many thanks for joining us again let's begin as i was saying with last night's protest the process as i said that they couldn't freely express their frustration with the election as hundreds of them were detained and their rally dispersed all these accusations. oh i think all the evidence that the election have been not the best in the world if i may say so the question of there was tricia nixon or the question because it seems that no there is a tendency to alter the world especially in the new democracies to contest the election of our contesting the election industry so it's part of the scenario of to do for the best or for the worse an order question so it means of the reaction of the authorities are very important and to approach or you just continue the

demonstrators or you disperse them violently and i think that to have moved on one side demonstrators who wanted to show themselves on the street because they cannot show on the election and on the same way over reacted like so often in moscow putting people in jail because they demonstrate is not really the way you have administrative measures you are probably better. the rally was authorized and allowed to happen in one of the most prominent locations in town could that be seen as some sort of progress in terms of allowing these people to put forward their voices in say public spots. i am not personally a great fan of the most original of the street so i feel democracy has to be built somewhere else and i can understand the frustration of some people but it's interesting too for what i've been reading but among the organizers and among the

demonstrators there were many colonies of the whole the communist have been winning a lot of it and so you see that is something i was not just expressing his frustration. so is this more this position protesting then we do expect to see after. the election anywhere else. not normal election everywhere but prime minister i see in the new democracy is this w.t. of the acceptance of the vote is not to properly implemented to multiple to listen and then move the party and he's also very much. a clear evidence that there has been in some part especially off and in some. places where people were voting some really infringement of the due diligence notion so it's no i think for the poor for the winners to come and see what they do is adopt and hold they will prevent that happening again eventually if they produce people who are demonstrating on the

street they can also produce the people walk on mars so i'm full now with almost all the votes counted on the next parliamentary make up pretty clear how do you assess the results of these parliamentary elections. i found they were fascinating . you know there was a tendency in the west and including in some in russia to see you know why are they voting. you take the same people and you start again and i think it should know it's not the case and i think it's the most true to kind of a much richer of the electorate in russia because first they wanted to show their dissatisfaction with united russia and they did but they wanted to have demonstrated dissatisfaction not by losing their votes but by voting for party who had a chance to enter in the duma and that's explain the higher success not expected from the communities but also from just rush other people with feeling perhaps will

not enter the duma and sadly of course it's pretty good in your book or will try to be a real opposition party and who was not true to and but i repeat for me it's a signal of moderation of the electorate even if the authorities are not mature rating on the same speed why do you think that russia's ruling party specifically saw more than ten percent drop in support. but you have different element the first is that you know it's a party we all know and says the same people presenting the face of the party and source it's the same phenomenon all to the world people want to change the moment and they are tired of the old first especially if they didn't perform as well as it was expected what is the case of united for sure and i think that there has been a big shock but i do we did change for the presidency that it would be mr putin presenting as the president and mr medvedev at the prime minister i think are been

a terrible political blunder of presentation because it gave the population the feeling that they had already before that everything was decided to bow of the head of that noble declared of all them so united russia is also paying the price for that again in a basket of professor of russian j. policy of elysian of athey and an expert on russia and eurasia many thanks. giros time is almost up so says one of the big three credit rating agencies as it prepares for a massive debt downgrade standard and poor's announcements of international markets with investors counting and running on european holdings especially worrying for them this time is that even germany's it is the backbone isn't being spared they just see justified his decision by pointing out the blocks consistent failures is that it's dead even as nations saw that bond interest rates rocket but all is not

yet lost with the leaders gathering in brussels on thursday for what's expected to be the last chance to come up with a definitive solution artist has australia as its report through. the years on crisis has been good fodder for cartoonists but it's no laughing matter for measure rescue packages numerous unpopular measures two years and hundreds of billions of euros in bailouts later it's still in need of a shot for that elusive big bazooka solution hopes are high that december ninth e.u. summit will finally be a decisive day for the euro's future german chancellor angela merkel is pushing for a treaty change with a fiscal union as the end goal she wants brussels to have veto powers over national budget plans that breached e.u. limits automatic sanctions for debt violators a day of court for repeat offenders. in a word merkel wants to impose discipline french president nicolas sarkozy is

generally on the same page but is resisting giving more powers to brussels whoever pays the piper gets to call the june germany pace we've all of you in the euro zone want to keep the single currency you must be prepared for that you must be prepared for giving up your fiscal sovereignty perhaps maybe you can even save some public money by this storing your leisure. the finance ministry says but this german m.e.p. begs to differ but what is the sovereignty for germany at the moment paying billions and billions of risk there's no sovereignty we are forced to do this because the euro is with reality so basically regaining sovereignty by sharing it on the european level is what the whole operation is about. while germany may be for greater fiscal integration it's dead set against the euro bond idea or euro countries sharing debt and idea pushed by the european commission albeit renaming

it stability bonds in effect italy's debt interest rates for example would go down from its worrying six to seven percent level while germany's would go up merkel's response is a resounding no germany won't let the deficit sinners off the hook by taking on their debt if sarkozy ever got his way he'd like the european central bank to act as a lender of last resort but again merkel said no she won't let the e.c.b. swoop in to save the day at least not until countries learn to keep their finances in check but it's widely seen that the e.c.b. will have to expand its role one way or another and is already considering it and what of other e.u. members who don't use the euro the idea of a two tier europe or the euro zone and the rest doesn't sit well with a major economy like the u.k. that was too late to the euro is successful because a lot of our trade depends on it but on the other hand to us if there's a group a central group which are in the or as another group which is not who makes up the

rules which control the single market it appears that any plan agreed upon will have to have germany's backing all merkel dismissed the idea of germany dominating europe as absurd although that's how it's increasingly being perceived for better or for worse tests are cilia r.t. brussels. but the european reaction to the possible downgrade has been varied say far with some calling it a wakeup call while others claim it amounts to a political attack but france's learn the managing director of break rich holdings believes it's long a fifteen. rating agencies should have downgraded the ratings of eurozone country already after two years actually more than two where they have years they are soon nowhere close to a solution what they have really have really tried to do a patch work trying to really come to market so the crisis would go over and they want to look back but you cannot be proved to solve. the crisis but the problem

is there is no economic growth in europe if there is no economic growth of your debt becomes a real burden and this is exactly what's happening to europe if germany will have to bail out of this countries then germany's credit on credit rating will solve and of course. if you want to play hardball just let this country go to the wall and then germany if we were to and i think that way germany came maintain its aaa rating but short of a catastrophic so lucia. germany would be dragged down by the rest of europe from the onset of the euro crisis discussions have been rife about he is to blame for the reckless barring that started it all from populous leaders to profit addicted banks few have escaped having the finger pointed at them but bush is your m.p. coffee blame please responsibility lies squarely with france and germany. the first

people to break the rules i think was in two thousand and three with the french and the germans by breaking the maastricht treaty sixty percent of g.d.p. rule so they've been breaking the rules everybody's be breaking the rules they continue to break the rules so the whole thing is a complete shambles and they're trying to strap sell it's a full of rip it's not working thing it we are now what witnessing the end game. if the euro had been a horse they would have shot it under professional economists i've been thirty five years of professional economists this isn't about politics this is a bit about economics and i've never known in the history of the world politics beat economics water doesn't flow uphill last a moment chilled of it forget my politics it doesn't really matter the long and short of it is this project is doomed to failure it was always tuned to failure and moreover i would have the people responsible i would have them arraigned i would have a fiscal crimes tribunals i would like to see some of these people sent to prison.

various muted attempts in europe to harmonize its finances and set markets on a roller coaster ride but some international investors are making record profits from the chaos the ethics of that are up for discussion and the kind of reporting fifteen minutes. of bank breaks the law they changed the law if the government is failing to do what they were elected to do they change the definition of what it is they're supposed to be doing or they change the statistics that they are reporting to somehow reflect them in a better light because this is how in fact they make money they probe the globe's financial orifices and they root out all the detritus that they find there as collateral for five hundred trillion dollars worth of anus collateralized j.p. morgan sprinkler bonds which are the basis for jamie diamond christmas bonus.

roster is scaling back its relations with qatar following an attack on it in doha the insults being linked to most case criticism against catullus us that position on the unrest in syria has gone if you can reports of washington's weight behind it how often as it can get away with almost anything. a small country with gigantic ambitions qatar with a population of less than two million people embarks on an aggressive plan to shape the air war old playing in tune with washington's policies in the region could target gain diplomatic weight it never had before they could tyreese feel as if they've got enormous backing and that they've become sort of larger than life as a factor in the politics of the region they're currently the chairman of the arab league and they've used that position to press for the most aggressive kind of

action against syria could tart became the first gulf nation to close its embassy in syria in july it's also reportedly funneling syrian rebels with weapons as it did in libya. the country's cheerleading ruling revolutions in the middle east and north africa has earned cheers and applause in the west coast or is not only supported diplomatically but it's also supported militarily. we are for partnership between our two countries is a model everyone's beginning to notice casa the u.s. went from once branding the qatar funded al-jazeera a terrorist channel to openly praising al-jazeera. has played a key and leading role but qatar has come under increasing criticism from russia for its aggressive involvement in the affairs of other countries in the region last

week a daughter airport the russian ambassador to qatar with two other russian embassy officials were physically assaulted by qatari customs and security officers when they made an attempt to confiscate the russians diplomatic bag because of the incident moscow has downgraded formal relations with qatar but get a sense that anything that they do to really stick a finger in the eye of the. russia or any of the other bric countries will be applauded in certain circles in the west and rewarded so yeah i think that it's all of it's all about that. you know they're in the front and the russia is not falling you around this syria issue these it and took place on the same day as russia's foreign ministry criticized qatar for supplying weapons to libyan rebels in violation of a u.n. arms embargo the u.s. which has a military base in the country has qatar's backing for its ventures in the region

with syria now in play washington is betting high on dog qatar has been put forward as the arab face on this bullying operation tiny qatar empowered by the u.s. is now playing big striving to shape the turbulent region in its favor the incident at the airport with russian diplomats shows what happens when someone gets in their way i'm going to check our reporting from washington our team meanwhile hawkish will make is in washington a calling for a review of relations with another ally pakistan they accuse islam about of supporting terrorist organizations following its freezing cooperation that was triggered by a deadly nato attack on pakistan's foreign policy analysts hullin and thinks americans planning to leave pakistan by the way signed. i think what's happened is that the united states has made some decisions about its strategy in the region both in central asia and in the south in south asia that essentially is going to

cut pakistan out of the formula and i don't think united states cure is very much what's going to happen after withdraws its troops in two thousand and fourteen and i think they would rather not withdraw their troops which is the nub of the problem because just on november second russia china. iran and pakistan had a meeting in istanbul which they all agreed that they would pressure the united states not to leave troops in afghanistan and i find it very difficult to imagine if this fallout in relations between pakistan and the united states is not somehow try to that position. now about forty five tons of radioactive water was reportedly leaked out of the focus sima nuclear plant in japan crippled in margins earthquake and tsunami some of the toxic water they have found its way into the ocean during the weekend the main problem on the ground is poor risk and damage assessment of

the cording to david wagner from a country recessions and taking. what's clear is that the testing process is not across the board. less than one person per cent of all food in japan is being tested right now and it's only being tested for cesium one thirty four and one thirty seven so there are many other types of radionuclides that are not being tested for it all including strong to know how many of those are very dangerous really nuclides once they get into the through an inner absorbed through through you can go into the bone and cause cancer they are targeting december sixteenth or you know bringing the reactors to a state where they call it under control that remains to be seen there is always the threat still there could be another earthquake and that's something most people are not talking about coming up max and stacey continue to expose economic fooled and the opposite is behind it but before that that's going to business update.

it's almost twenty five minutes past three pm there shall counsel you watching business on r.t.e. the new russian parliament has been chosen but many of the challenges remain the same and number of these a long term projects such as building infrastructure or privatization due to changes in the constitution this duma will sit ins for five years rather four but areas from business new york thanks the extra time will help get things done. all of the problems that russia faces have to do with long term planning and you know massive amounts of reform rebuilding restructuring investment what have you and this sense it's not like a western democracy and so given that what needs to be done is actually pretty obvious i mean you need to invest in the education system you need to invest into infrastructure to power to read to transport you know all these things it's very

obvious what needs to be done and so in that sense having a government that's in power a little bit longer which can concentrate in the job and hands is probably a positive thing. but the new parliament now formed many in russia waiting for the privatisation programme to get back on track bruise valer from verna capital says the government has done a good job so far in urging investors to inject cash into company. the government for several years has been making an effort to improve transparency and to improve governance and soon companies but now you're actually seeing the fruits of that effort so last last week when goes from announced its dividends were higher than expected you know almost two hundred billion euros goes from as dividend yield of almost five percent that's higher than exxon that's higher than chevron and so that's an open competitor rising cetera so the government is actually taking you know very dramatic steps to pay you to be a minority shareholder and then you see increasing transparency in dividend payouts

from a host of other student companies so you know the general story is that the government's efforts to improve corporate governance among student companies are now rewarding you substantially as a minority shareholder so that's you know that we keep an eye on. plus now see how the markets are performing pruitt is regaining some of the ground that lost earlier in the day as the euro retreated against the dollar light sweet us currently topping one hundred one dollars a barrel brant is that one thousand one hundred ten dollars. european markets are withstanding the pressure that weighed on them earlier in the day after standard and poor's placed fifteen euros in a pot of beans on a watch list for a possible downgrade as a v. says it will lower their ratings unless the e.u. leaders come up with a workable plan to solve the debt crisis at friday's meeting the focus is now flat to positive and germany the dax is still down but the losses are narrower than in

the morning trading. like in europe markets in russia widely held losses this hour the r.t.s. is shedding more than the one in the house percent of the my sex is down one on one percent. and let's now have a look at some individual share moves on the my sex most energy majors a down of the week of crude with gas probably losing more than one percent financials are also under pressure. around two percent is gold has slipped into negative territory on lower precious metal prices. poorly motivated staff cost russian companies more than two hundred billion dollars a year of salton sea ass's management estimates that only sixty percent of russian employees willingly make an effort to achieve results just to compare the share of the doozie asked the workers make up eighty percent of your asses management told seventy thousand employees from around forty russian firms that's all we have time for in this edition of business will be back with an update in about fifteen

minutes but you can always find more stories online at r.t.l. com slash business.